Article share tools

EU needs the 'electric shock' of Brexit

Brexit Bill

House of Lords

Parliament

BBC

Conservative peer Earl of Caithness says voices in the debate warning about leaving were delivering the same warnings in 1971 and 1972.

He says enough of the British people have changed their mind of the benefits of staying in the EU - and peers must respect that decision. The EU "is in a mess", he says, and although Brexit is "our top priority" it is not the EU's top priority.

He quotes friends from France, saying Brexit is the shock the EU needs in order to change, likening it to an "electric shock".

Budgets will have to change, he says, as one of the biggest contributors (or "milch cows") is leaving.

Article share tools

Controversy over Speaker continued today

House of Commons

Parliament

A Conservative MP asked the Speaker of the House of Commons directly if a vote of no confidence will be held in him earlier today.

James Duddridge raised a point of order and asked the Speaker John Bercow if the “government or indeed the Backbench Business Committee contacted you in any way to allocate time for this unresolved matter to be debated and indeed voted on”.

He also acknowledged that there had been a “somewhat underwhelming” response to his call for a vote of no confidence.

Speaker Bercow said “the short answer is no and there is absolutely no reason why they should have done”.

He said his point was “fortified in the knowledge that it is also the sound advice of the experienced clerk of the House”.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen later raised another point of order and asked the Speaker to “apologise” in the Commons for “unilaterally seeking to ban the President of United States from Westminster Hall”.

Speaker Bercow said he had “treated of that matter very fully” when he addressed previous points of order in the House of Commons, adding “we shall leave it there”.

Article share tools

Centenary of SS Mendi sinking

Adjournment Debate

House of Commons

Parliament

BBC

Conservative Andrew Murrison starts his adjournment debate on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Mendi.

The SS Mendi was a troop ship carrying more than 800 predominantly black South African men recruited to work as manual labourers. The ship was hit in thick fog off the Isle of Wight by a cargo steamship.

The men on board were travelling to France to assist the allies in World War I. A total of 646 people died in the tragedy.

Andrew Murrison says he wants to make "amends" for the fact that, at the time, the incident was not mentioned in the House of Commons.

Article share tools

Amendments would 'strengthen PM's hand'

Brexit Bill

House of Lords

Parliament

BBC

Crossbencher Lord Pannick is one of the lawyers who represented Gina Miller in the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court ruling that a bill must be passed through Parliament before the Brexit process can begin.

He pays tribute to her and says that "the whole House should be very grateful to Mrs Miller" for giving them the opportunity to debate the manner and timing of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

He says that the bill needs amendment and that the government must return to Parliament to ratify the terms of the deal, giving it "at least the same powers as the European Parliament has".

Lord Pannick goes on to refute two arguments made by peers and MPs who oppose amendment of the bill.

In response to those who say we should "get on with it", he says that amending the bill will not affect the March deadline set by the PM to trigger Article 50.

And in response to the argument that amendments would "weaken the negotiating power of the government in Europe" he says the prime minister has already committed to return to Parliament. It "should strengthen her hand", to be able to say to the EU that she "has to get this deal through Parliament".

Criminal Finances Bill has third reading

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace makes the case for the Criminal Finances Bill at third reading.

He calls for "further steps" to be taken by Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies in improving transparency.

Much of the debate at report stage was dedicated to the subject, but the minister notes that this was not the point of the bill.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott welcomes the bill, but argues that tax evasion and avoidance were "not victimless crimes" due to their impact on decreasing tax revenue in both the UK and developing world.

She believes that there is, therefore, space for improving transparency in the legislation.

Article share tools

Committee session ends

Health Committee

Select Committee

Parliament

And that's it from the Health Committee.

Most striking in today's session was the call from all three representatives of health and social care employers that recruitment of health professionals from abroad be made easier after Brexit, their criticisms of the current immigration system for non-EU migrants, and their instance that the NHS, social care and medical training need access to migrants to function.